Improvement in processes of disintegrating vegetable fiber s



UNITED STATES PATENT Orrron.

ROBERT W. RUSSELL, on NEW YORK, Y.

IMPROVEMENT m PROCESSES or DISINTEGEATING VEGETABLE FIBERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 131,465, dated September 17, 18 72.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT W. RUssnLL, of the city of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Lymans patented process for the disintegration of fibrous vegetable substances by the explosive force of steam, and in the use of superheated steam, under certain conditions, for that purpose, and certain new and useful improvements in the preparation of fibrous substances for such disintegration, and in the treatment of the fiber so disintegrated; also, the utilization of the waste products of the said process and the conversion of certain kinds of fibrous materials into paper-stock and fibrous pulp by certain stages or processes in combination with the fiber-gun.

I. Heretofore, all the steam for Lymans steam-guns (called fiber-guns) for the disintegration of vegetable fibrous substances has been generated in a boiler to a pressure of about one hundred and sixty pounds to two hundred pounds to the square inch, or a temperature of about 368 to 387 O of Fahrenheit,

(according to the nature of the material treatthe steam from the low steam-boiler can be let on and mixed with the superheated steam, from time to time, as required, so that the proper heat and pressure may be obtained from such mixture in due proportions. The low steam may be supplied, as aforesaid, from a separate boiler, in order that it may be of a pressure exceeding that of the steam supplied to be superheated and of a pressure equal to or greater than that of the superheated steam, so that back pressure may be avoided. In using superheated steam for the steam fibergun a dome or reservoir is useful'to hold a sufficient quantity of such steam to charge one or more guns as soon as they are ready to be charged. In. this dome the ordinary and superheated steam may be mixed together and thence supplied to the gun at the required temperature and pressure. The mixed steam is supplied to the gun in the first instance after it has been charged and when the material has been properly acted upon by it high-pressure steam is let on, when the material treated is of such anature as to require it to complete the process. A comparatively small quantity of high-pressure steam is in any case sufficient for the purpose of completing the process with the fiber-gun.

A good result can be obtained by charging the gun, in the first instance, with ordinary steam at any low pressure, after it has been filled with the fibrous material to be disintegrated, and, by keeping it so charged for about five to ten minutes, according to the nature of the material. The gun is then charged with the superheated steam, or with that and ordinary steam, and the process is completed, as above described. When the fibrous material to be disintegrated is charged with moisture the superheated or mixed steam may be injected into the gun without the previous application of low steam, as aforesaid.

By the aforesaid use of superheated steam, which is made with rapidity, safety, and economy, and, without high pressure, a great saving is efiected in fuel and in machinery, besides which the process is improved and quickened.

II. The steam injected into the gun and brought into contact with the fibrous material therein condenses very rapidly, and a large quantity of water results therefrom, which it is necessary to draw ofi' some time before discharging the gun, in order that the steam may act on the material to better effect. For this purpose a hole is drilled in the gun at the breech end, through which the water, with much acid and coloring-matter, is discharged into a strong steam-tight cylinder or receptacle placed under or near the gun, and the liquor made in the gun shortly before its discharge may be advantageously saved in this receptacle, it being strongly impregnated with acid which is-useful andvaluable. In that case, the water condensed in the gun during the can lier part of the gun-process is run off, leaving the strong liquor made during the last part of the process in the said receptacle to be drawn off for use. The water runs out of the gun into this reservoir during the steaming process, the breech end of the gun being at a lower elevation than the discharge end.

Heretofore the common practice has been to discharge the water, 800., from the gun into the open air, from time to time during the steaming process in the gun, by turning a cock connected with a pipe leading the water from the discharge-vent of the gun but there is then a considerable escape and loss of steam from the gun, whereby the pressure is much diminished. By my said improvement the water collected in the reservoir is discharged after the discharge of the gun, or before its discharge, by first turning a cock and shutting off the connection between the reservoir and the gun.

III. The fibrous material to be disintegrated may be profitably prepared for the fibergun by soaking or charging such fibrous matter in a solution of caustic-alkali or other chemical solution available, for the purpose of aiding or accelerating the disintegration of such fibrous material, or facilitating the pulping or bleaching of the same in subsequent processes of treatment of such material after its discharge from the fiber-gun. By the use of superheated steam in the fibergun, and by the continuous discharge from it of the condensed steam, the fibrous material so soaked or charged is quick ly deprived. of its superabundant moisure, and a better and quicker disintegration is effected than when ordinary high-pressure steam alone is used. The fibrous matter to be treated can also be advantageously charged with any solution, as aforesaid, applied in the gun. When the chemical solution is used in'the gun it is advantageous to subject the fibrous material to the action of ordinary steam for a few minutes in the gun before supplying the chemical solution. WVhen that has been done, high steam is supplied to the gun, as aforesaid, for about five to ten minutes, and when the material has been thus treated sufficiently for the purpose of softening it and charging it with the chemical solution aforesaid the gun is discharged. The liquor may be drawn off through the reservoir above mentioned, or in any other convenient way. After drawing of the liquor steam is supplied to the fiber-gun, and the process is completed by the discharge from the gun, the whole process occupying about twenty or thirty minutes, according to the material treated.

IV. By the mechanical and chemical stages particularized below paper stock and pulp are made from the fibrous vegetable materials first treated with the fiber-gun. The fibers of the fibrous vegetable substances blown from the gun are thereby opened and disrupted, and the material is easily bruised, beaten, and washed This may be done at once, if the material has been subjected to a chemical treatment, as aforesaid, before being blown from the gun. Otherwise, in order to obtain a goodproduct, I boil the blown fiber in a weak alkaline solution, (waste or spent alkaline liquor will suffice and then subject it to a bruising v or beating and washing. The product is then dried and baled for transportation, for use as paper stock. When a superior article is required the cleansed fiber is boiled for a short time in a strong alkaline solution under moderate steam-pressure, whereby a good pulp is produced for white and tinted paper.

Such bruising, beatin g, and washing, as aforesaid, may be effected in an ordinary heating or rag engine, but the action of the sharp knives ordinarily in use upon the steamblown cane fiber and many other kinds of fiber is not so good as the action of Adamsons patented machine for breaking down Manilla and other material for paper, and other machines acting in a similar way, viz.: by squeezing, bruising, and brushing open the fibers instead of cutting them. Washing by percolation is also preferable for such fibers, as by the washing in the beating-engines some of the fine fiber passes through the washers and is lost.

The breaking or bruising required so as to prepare the fiber for further chemical treatment is slight, but suficient to open the fibers and liberate the coloring and interstitial matter to be washed out before the application of strong chemical solutions to the material, or before pressing or running off the fiber into sheets for transportation.

Reed, cane, hemp, stalks, and flax-straw are specially adapted for the aforesaid processes. Wheat and rye straw, sedge, and wood, and other vegetable fibrous substances of a similar nature, are also available for the said processes, consisting of the several stages aforesaid.

V. Heretofore the fibrous material subjected to the action of the fiber-gun has been discharged upon a floor in front of the gun when it becomes dry, or nearly so, from the heat of the steam within it, and much of the soluble matter in the fiber becomes hardened, which hardened matter must, in subsequent processes, be dissolved and washed out.

By my improvement the contents of the gun are discharged into a vat or pool at a short distance from the same, which pool is supplied with warm or 'hot water let into it and down upon the fiber from a tank placed above the pool containing a supply of warm or hot water for the purpose, from which tank the water is poured or showered down upon the fiber as fast as it is blown from the guns into the pool, so as to drench or submerge the fiber.

By these means the fiber, when just expelled from the gun and in a hot condition, is subjected to the action of warm or hot water, which prevents the solidification of the soluble matter, and causes the same to be liberated from the fiber. The liquor is drawn off and the fiber is then removed from the pool or vat. The vat or pool into which the fiber is blown is thus made available to save the liquor, which is, by the infusion of the blown fiber with water in the pool, charged with acid and other matter held in solution, and which is useful and valuable, especially when the reedcane and some other vegetable fibrous substances are blown from the guns without the use of chemicals.

The infusion made in the pool or vat is drawn oft for use, and then water may be let on to partly cleanse or wash the material; and

to further utilize the acid and other matter in the said steam-blown fiber, which can be extracted therefrom by boiling, the said fiber is boiled in water, such boiling constituting a preliminary stage in the process of preparing the steam-blown fiber for paper-pulp, paperstock, or other purposes.

After such boiling the liquor is drawn oft, and the fiber is thus relieved from useless and obnoxious matter, anditcan be further cleansed by washing with water, for which it is prepared by such boiling.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The use of superheated steam and of a mixture of the same with ordinary steam in Lymans fiber-gun, in the manner and for the purposes above set forth.

2. The above-described preparation of the fibrous material with a chemical solution, prior to its being placed in the fibergun, for

. the purposes above mentioned.

3. The above-described preparation of the fibrous material in the fiber-gun, before application therein of high steam to such material.

4. The above-described mode of drawing otf the condensed steam and liquor from the said fiber-gun, so as to prevent the escape and loss of high steam from the gun during the steaming process therein.

5. The discharge of the contents of the fiber-gun into a vat or pool, with water, and

the treatment of the material in such vat or Witnesses:

WM. P. ARNOLD, WM. L. RAYMOND. 

